Dr Peter Jonson, The ‘Booty Call’: A Compromise Between Men’s and Women’s Ideal Mating Strategies.

I spotted coverage of this study in the Metro on my way in to the office this morning (oh, the raised eyebrows on the lady next to me as I ripped it out with enthusiasm) and thought it was rather interesting. The author of this paper argues that the ‘booty call’ (how’s that for a nice new scientific term? If I were the researcher I’d name it after myself) represents a compromise between men who want short-term sexual relationships, and women who want long-term ones.

It’s interesting. But also a bit disheartening - for while I realise that it is often a necessity of doing a study to keep the parameters of inquiry narrative, I can’t help but feel that this one relies too heavily on the assumptions that men and women are locked in a sort of binary battle of wills in whcih the former always want casual sex and the latter commitment - when, in fact, as many of us have learned first-hand (haven’t we?), relying on these assumptions is often useless, and might get in the way of people being able to establish what they really do want, for fear of boldly defying sex stereotypes.

If you are trying to establish a long-term relationship, a booty call is unlikely to result in the outcome that you are looking for; if you aren’t, then it may seem effective in the short-term but prove to be rather more complicated than you’d like in the long run. Might it be better for you and the person on the receiving end of your text message to actually have a discussion about what it is you want? Oh, it would. But then you’d have so much less drama in your life.